Terrorism

Many Indian mural and floor-painting/floor-drawing traditions witnessed a gradual transfer to paper, some co-existing alongside the traditional domestic practices. In Mithila, the socioeconomic necessity that hastened the transfer introduced elements of radicalism, resulting in more socially engaged art. In other words, Mithila artists have more consciously practised ‘artivism’. Themes encompass environmental concerns, feminism (critiques of patriarchy, female foeticide and infanticide, and the dowry system), social inequity, and significant contemporary events, including natural disasters and terrorism. Such events are frequently situated beyond India’s borders, ‘consumed’ by these artists as subjects mediated by the international news media. Das and Szanton have previously written, “If power differentials between perceived centers and peripheries continue to play out politically, socio-economically, and culturally, such modern forces as the international news media, increased international mobility, and the internet are all contributing to ‘a globally shrinking village’ . . .” [1] (in Das et al 2017: 27)

Terrorism depicts at least three separate incidents: New York’s twin tower attacks (September 2001), most likely the Gujarat Pogrom, also referred to as the Gujarat Riots (February 2002) and New Delhi’s Parliament attacks (December 2001). On the top left are aeroplanes flying into the World Trade Centre and people fleeing the buildings in the attack’s aftermath. On the top right is probably the Gujarat Pogrom, which was reportedly instigated by the burning of a train in Godhra (Gujarat, India). Below the twin towers, on the left, is the attack on the Parliament of India, with India’s tricolour flag shown atop the building. Along the bottom are further scenes from this attack (with terrorists using grenades, AK-47 rifles and pistols), which resulted in – among others – the death of a gardener, indicated here by the shrub, trees and general foliage.

The border shows masked men holding rifles, a universally recognisable visual representing terrorism. In Mithila art, faces are usually shown in full frontal mode when they are divine; mortals are shown in profile. Here, the faces on the border face the viewer, perhaps to draw attention to how only the terrorists’ eyes are visible when they wear concealing masks, thus highlighting the terrorists’ menacing ‘gaze’. In 2012, three years after she created this painting, another Mithila artist, Naresh Paswan created a work in ink titled 9/11/2001, which captured the moment when the first plane struck the North Tower, with the Hudson River showing in the background. When discussing the Gond artist Venkat Singh Shyam’s series Terror in Mumbai (2010), Das made an observation that is pertinent to the eyes in the border here: “The recurring symbol of the eye underscores the mass horror felt by the global audience watching these events unfolding on television (recalling the terrifying and dramatic sight of the collapsing twin towers on 9/11), as though the artist’s firsthand ‘gaze’ is shared by television viewers . . . The omnipresent eye also introduces a sinister element by consciously – or unwittingly – pointing to issues of surveillance, such as the apparent ubiquity of security cameras (which, on this occasion at least, clearly – and ironically – did not provide adequate security).” [1] (ibid, 28) By juxtaposing diverse terrorist incidents, the artist underscores terrorism’s unfortunate prevalence in the 21st century.

Aurogeeta Das, 2024

References:

[1] Das, Aurogeeta and David Szanton, “The Contemporary Moment in Indigenous Art: Global Events and Sociopolitical Critiques” in Das, Aurogeeta et al (2017) Many Visions, Many Versions: Art from Indigenous Communities in India, Washington D.C.: International Arts and Artists (IA&A), pp. 26-31